Boomer rolled to the side and sucked in a breath, fuck that hurt. He opened one of his eyes as he forced himself to remember, shit, Ortiz. He tried to move but he couldn’t, opening both eyes finally, he tried to focus, but it was hard. His ears were ringing still.
The explosion. Ricco.
He coughed and then tried to talk. “Ricco?” he said and his voice was raspy but at least he heard it, even though it was muffled, he knew he hadn’t blown his eardrums at least, that was something.
He could see the smoke still rising around him, some of the fires were still burning. He could feel the heat, debris was floating around, and he closed his arms. Where the hell was Ricco.
“Ricco?” he said, his voice a little stronger. He heard someone moving and he turned his head and looked. Fuck, he was a sitting duck, who was moving? He couldn’t see, but when he heard Ricco, he wanted to laugh.
“Man, what the fuck?” he groaned.
“Dude, we need to get the fuck out of here before the cops get here,” Boomer said. “Can you get up, I can’t, something is on me.”
He heard scuffling and finally Ricco came into view and Boomer laughed, yeah it was dumb, but really he couldn’t help himself. The man frowned and said, “What?”
“Your hair is completely fucked up; I think some of it singed off,” Boomer said and Ricco coughed.
“That is not funny,” the man said seriously and then Boomer laughed louder.
“Fuck yeah it is,” Boomer said. “What the fuck is on me?”
Ricco looked down and he frowned and said, “Shit, part of the roof, hang on.” Ricco staggered up and tried to find something he could use to wedge under it and get Boomer out.
He finally looked down and all he could see was the edge of something. He was laying at a weird fucking angle and it prevented him from being able to help much. Ricco finally found a bar, and he came back to where Boomer was laying and Ricco said, “Cover your face, there is shit all over it, just in case it falls back.” Boomer nodded and then used his arm covered his face.
“When I say move, roll,” Ricco said and Boomer nodded.
Boomer felt him move the bar close to his hip, he got what the man was doing and so when he felt the pressure rise off his legs he moved his arm knowing the shit was falling away from him. “Now!” Ricco said, obviously straining and he moved his large body out of the way. When he was clear, Ricco dropped the bar and the rubble fell back down.
“Come on,” Boomer said, pulling himself up and checking himself for injuries, he knew he had some cuts, one of them on his leg was bleeding and he grimaced and looked at Ricco to see how bad he was. They both looked rough, and would stick out like a sore thumb once they left this area. “You have a phone?” he asked and Ricco nodded and pulled a phone out of his back pocket and then grimaced.
Ricco said, “Well, not anymore apparently.”
Boomer snorted and said, “Come on, we will figure it out as we go.”
Ricco nodded and they picked their way through the rubble until they were in the main room of the warehouse and Boomer held up a hand and looked around. That fucker had been here somewhere, he thought and looked at Ricco who was following him, but looking down as well. There was blood, men had died here, and he didn’t give two shits’, they were fucking animals, men who had killed children.
Then Boomer saw it, a man’s hand sticking from beneath a pile of rubble but was moving. Ricco followed him as he stumbled to where he saw the hand and then lifted the piece of building which had fallen on him. When he revealed the man’s head and saw Ortiz, Boomer actually smiled and looked at Ricco who was also staring at the man intently.
Ortiz had blood coming out of his mouth, and when he smiled at Boomer, he teeth were bloody, and Boomer knew he wouldn’t leave him here, fucker didn’t deserve to have a chance to survive. But he wasn’t going to go out peacefully, this motherfucker was going to feel every fucking bit of torture they had planned. He looked at Ricco and he said, “I can’t leave him.”
Ricco nodded and said, “Tell me what you need.”
“We need a car and we need to get him back to the hotel, into a room no one will hear him when he dies,” Boomer said and Ricco nodded.
“Let’s get him up.”
The men worked together to get Ortiz to his feet, the man tried unsuccessfully to pull away from them but they found it easy to keep him in line. They took either side of him and they moved, holding him up between them.
Boomer didn’t give a care how hurt he was, how much pain he felt, this fucker was going to be delivered right to Fling, he deserved the kill. They walked down slowly, but both men seemed to get stronger as they got out of the area where the smoke was so thick it made it all that much worse to breathe, but when the smoke cleared and Boomer paused for a moment, sucking in a deep breath and he heard Ricco do the same.
He looked up, and saw the police cars who were holding back, he cussed under his breath and the fucker they were carrying started to chuckle. He thought he was going to get out of it, and he may.
Ricco looked at Boomer and shook his head and then looked at Ortiz and said, “What the fuck are you laughing at.”
“All of this posturing, all of this drama, so I can be turned over to the other authorities. What will they do to me? Slap my wrist and send me home? That is what your leaders will do. I have too many connections to ever be held for long, I would even bet your president sends me a fruit basket while I am recuperating.” Ortiz laughed and then Ricco smiled.
Boomer looked at him, holy fuck, that smile wasn’t the flirting one he had given to Georgie, no, his lips were thin and twisted, and if he was on the receiving end of that smile, Boomer would be a little worried at that point. The man was dangerous, there was no doubt about it. And when the words left his mouth next, Boomer wanted to laugh.
“See that is where you are wrong,” Ricco said and then with his free arm he pointed to the cop, the one of whose car was moving toward them.
Ortiz laughed and spit blood on the ground in front of them and said, “Please, enlighten me.”
Ricco waited for a second and when the car pulled up close to them and Ricco motioned the officer with his head. “Well, you see. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this police officer happens to be related to someone very dear to me. In fact, he is the son-in-law to my boss’s brother. Now that may not mean a lot to you right now. But I would suggest you think real hard about the name Acciai.”
Boomer felt Ortiz stiffen, he knew the name, well fuck a duck. “Ah, I see you know him already. So anyway, he is here to pick us up, he will deliver us to the hotel where the other members of the Fury will be waiting. And when I turn you over to them, I will do so in order to make sure that when they are done with you, I have made arrangements for your body to never be discovered.”
The officer got out of the vehicle and he narrowed his eyes at Ortiz, reached out and grabbed his arm and pulled him to the back of the car and basically threw him in. Boomer chuckled and said, “Ricco, you are my hero.”
The man shook his head and then took a deep breath and said to the officer who was standing there. “Please, Ernesto, please for the love of God, call a car and have them pick us up immediately. We also need a cellphone; arrangements need to be made.”
The man reached in the car and handed Ricco a phone, who handed it off to him. Ricco then moved to the officer and turned him away from Boomer so he could have privacy while he called Fling. He watched as the two walked to the car and he saw the man calling for the car Ricco had requested. He didn’t wait, he pushed in Fling’s number and waited.
“Boomer?” Fling snapped into the phone and he chuckled quietly.
“Wow, man, you sound worried. Where you worried I was actually dead?” Boomer said and he heard a sigh come from his president.
“Fuck no,” Fling said. “I wasn’t worried about you at all, fuck, I was worried about that bastard with you, his boss’s brother is a little bit upset we left him there with you. Plus, add on to that, the woman, she is running rampant through the floor banging on doors and demanding to go back to the warehouse and find you.”
He smiled and shook his head but then said quietly, “Ricco and I are one our way back to the hotel, we are one person heavy, get the guys, meet us in the back parking lot.”
“He is alive?” Fling said incredulously.
“And kicking, but not for long,” Boomer said.
“Fucking A, I will never be able to repay you for giving this to me,” Fling said.
“Just watching him die will be thanks enough,” Boomer said and then he hung up the phone.
Ricco came to him and put a hand on his shoulder and said, “Our car is here, just down there.” He pointed and Boomer nodded. They moved slowly, bumping each other in the shoulder a few times.
Ricco said, “When we get back, you and your brothers will have the basement room to deal with him, while you are doing that, I will make arrangements for afterward.”
Boomer nodded and said, “Thanks.”
Ricco chuckled and said, “If you are really grateful, you could allow me to have dinner with the charming woman you escaped with.”
They took a few steps, and as they were close to the car that pulled up, Boomer punched him in the chin and Ricco stumbled and laughed. “I guess that is a no.”
“Ya, think?” Boomer muttered and then got into the car.
Fling and the others were waiting, hell, when they saw Boomer they all looked relieved to see him, well he thought so until he got out of the car and suddenly out of nowhere his arms were full of a little woman who had jumped and wrapped her arms around his neck, and legs around his waist yelling, “You bastard, I thought you were dead. I thought you had died before I could actually beat the crap out of you for being an asshole about shit.”
Boomer fell back into the car, his arm instantly going under her ass to hold her up, and right himself. “Uh, Georgie?” he muttered and she leaned out and glared at him.
“No, you don’t get it, we are gonna fight, you are an asshole, I am a bitch, yada yada yada. Get the fuck over it,” Georgie snapped and Ricco got out of the car on the other side and laughed.
“Take that back, man,” Ricco said. “She is a little bit more, how should I say, outspoken than I would normally go for.”
Boomer shook his head and said, “You have no idea, and you should try it, there is nothing like having someone be your complete equal in every way.”
Fling snorted and said, “Great, can she blow shit up too, we need to have someone in case you are already gone.”
Boomer shook his head, “Nope.”
“Too bad,” Fling muttered and then said, “Georgie, do you think we can borrow him for a few minutes, we have business to take care of.”
She sighed and then said, “Yep, have at it.” She leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “But when you get up to the room, we will be discussing what you and the Furies really do, Fling was kind enough to share, and I get it, but we need to work on your delivery.”
His eyes went to Fling who was shaking his head and looking at the ceiling and said, “I had a weak moment, woman, I was under duress when I told you, forget everything I said.”
“Whatever,” Georgie muttered and jumped down but not before kissing him. “See you in a few.”
Ortiz looked at all of the men standing before him with his one eye that was open. He knew this was the end and he didn’t give a shit, he was not giving them what they wanted. They were hurt, half of them were barely standing up, he wished a few of them would have been taken out in their ambush, unfortunately Ortiz learned in the last hour what mistakes he had made. It pissed him off, but whatever, his sister would avenge him, this he knew.
“Where is she?” Fling said one last time and Ortiz laughed and shook his head.
“You will never find her,” Ortiz said.
Fling nodded and then pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and said, “So, what you are saying is, that your sister, Marta, is not currently in the care of a physician at a retreat in Columbia. This one I believe.”
Ortiz squinted and he growled when he saw the name written on the paper, they had been playing with him this whole time, the torture was all a mindfuck. He would have been impressed if it had been anyone else, not these fucks.
Fling took the gun Boomer was handing him and he grinned and put the muzzle right next to the asshole’s head and he whispered, “See you in hell,” right before Fling pulled the trigger and got the satisfaction of watching the bastard die.
He turned to the Furies and said, “Let’s go home.”